This article replicates and “stress tests” a recent finding by Eckel and Grossman (2003) that matching subsidies generate substantially higher Charity Receipts than theoretically comparable rebate subsidies. In a first replication treatment, we show that most choices are consist with a “constant (gross) contribution” rule, suggesting that inattention to the subsidies’ differing net consequences may explain the higher revenues elicited with matching subsidies. Results of additional treatments suggest that (a) the charity dimension of the decision problems has little to do with the result, and (b) extra information regarding the net consequences of decisions reduces but does not eliminate the result.

Laboratory experiments are frequently used to examine the nature of individuals’ social and risk preferences and inform economic theory. However, it is unknown whether the preferences of volunteer participants are representative of the population from which the participants are drawn, or whether they differ due to selection bias. To answer this question, we measured the preferences of 1,173 students in a classroom experiment using a trust game and a lottery choice task. Separately, we invited all students to participate in a laboratory experiment using common recruitment procedures. To evaluate whether there is selection bias, we compare the social and risk preferences of students who eventually participated in a laboratory experiment to those who did not, and find that they do not differ significantly. However, we also find that people who sent less in a trust game were more likely to participate in a laboratory experiment, and discuss possible explanations for this behavior.

We investigate cooperation using an incremental investment game in which the first-mover has the ability to make small, but increasing incremental investments in their counterpart. Our experiment is designed to test whether establishing trust in small increments is more effective than alternatives, including a one-shot investment game, a decrease only condition where the amount the first-mover sends to the second-mover must be less than the amount previously sent, and an unrestricted condition where the first-mover is not restricted by the amount previously sent. Although results were mixed, broadly, iteration affords greater cooperation than one-shot games and, when given the choice, participants seem to prefer to build trust gradually. Implications for institutional design are discussed.

In certain markets success may depend on how well participants anticipate the behavior of other participants who have varying amounts of experience. Understanding if and how people's behavior depends on competitors’ level of experience is important since in most markets participants have varying amounts of experience. Examining data from two new experimental studies similar to the beauty contest game first studied by Nagel (1995), the results indicate that (1) players with no experience behave the same against competitors with and without experience but (2) players quickly learn to condition their behavior on competitors’ experience level, causing (3) behavior to stop moving toward the equilibrium whenever new players enter the game and (4) experienced players to earn more money than less experienced players. The paper discusses the implications of the results for understanding and modeling behavior in markets in which participants have different amounts of experience.

Over the last 50 years, paleobiology has made great strides in illuminating organisms and ecosystems in deep time through study of the often-curious nature of the fossil record itself. Among fossil deposits, none are as enigmatic or as important to our understanding of the history of life as Konservat-Lagerstätten, deposits that preserve soft-bodied fossils and thereby retain disproportionately large amounts of paleobiological information. While Konservat-Lagerstätten are often viewed as curiosities of the fossil record, decades of study have led to a better understanding of the environments and circumstances of exceptional fossilization.Whereas most types of exceptional preservation require very specific sets of conditions, which are rare but can occur at any time, Seilacher noted the problem of “anactualistic” modes of exceptional preservation, defined as modes of fossilization that are restricted in time and that no longer occur. Here, we focus on anactualistic preservation and the widely recognized overrepresentation of Konservat-Lagerstätten in the Ediacaran and early Paleozoic. While exceptional fossil deposits of Ediacaran, Cambrian, and Early Ordovician age encompass a number of modes of fossilization, the signal of exceptional preservation is driven by only two modes, Ediacara-type and Burgess Shale–type preservation. Both are “extinct” modes of fossilization that are no longer present in marine environments. We consider the controls that promoted widespread anactualistic preservation in the Ediacaran and early Paleozoic and their implications for the environmental conditions in which complex life first proliferated in the oceans.

War, captives, and human sacrifice were parts of Late Postclassic (AD 1250–1524) Maya culture in highland Guatemala. Las Casas (1958:152) wrote that the supreme lord “put the heads of the sacrificed on some poles on a certain altar dedicated only to this, where they had these for some time, after which they buried them.” These cultural aspects show up in human remains excavated at Iximche’, the Kaqchikel Maya capital. Here, we integrate previously published and unpublished results of stable isotope analyses and explore their implications for diets and the geographic origins of individuals who were buried at the site on the eve of the Spanish conquest. Data from Iximche’ are compared with available results from other ancient Maya sites.

The trade war with China has cost US producers and consumers hundreds of billions of dollars since 2018. Yet relatively few US businesses took action to oppose it. This study reports the results of an elite survey experiment on business political activity toward trade policy. Researchers presented business managers with information about the input costs of the new tariffs to their bottom line—information that most subjects acknowledged that they lacked—and invited them to take political action to express support or opposition to these tariffs. The results suggest that the novel information on economic costs did not significantly increase managers’ propensity to contact members of Congress, donate to political campaigns, sign petitions, or join social media groups. We also found that the firm’s political culture (liberal or conservative) did not significantly influence the effectiveness of the treatment. However, descriptive analysis showed that firm political culture was strongly related to the company’s support for the trade war, suggesting that these preexisting political beliefs were resistant to new information provided in our experiment even if that information could affect the company’s bottom line.

Some Americans prepare for unanticipated adverse economic events, plan for the future, and keep their debt at manageable levels, but others do not. Using four waves of the Understanding America Study during the pandemic period, we compare middle-aged and older Black, Hispanic, and White Americans’ financial resilience from 2020 to 2024. After uncovering significant initial differences in their financial preparedness at the outset of the pandemic, we confirm that greater financial resilience enhanced peoples’ chances of realizing better economic outcomes when confronting adverse economic shocks. The 2024 wave shows systematic differences in financial resilience across the demographic groups and indicates how greater resilience affects financial satisfaction.

We conduct two experiments using a demographically diverse online subject pool to investigate total and extensive price elasticities of giving by age, income, gender, political ideology, and religiosity. A first exploratory experiment finds that religious subjects give more, are more likely to give, and are less sensitive to the price of giving than non-religious subjects. We find no statistically significant differences in price elasticities by age, income, gender, or political ideology. A second pre-registered experiment confirms these findings.

Tetflupyrolimet is the first herbicide with a novel site of action (SOA) labeled PRE and early POST for use in agronomic crops to be labeled in the last three decades. Direct-seeded paddy rice field experiments were conducted near Stuttgart, AR, on a silt loam soil and near Keiser, AR, on a clay soil to evaluate tetflupyrolimet-containing herbicide programs in comparison to commercial standards in conventional, imidazolinone-resistant, and quizalofop-resistant rice systems. Additionally, a furrow-irrigated rice experiment was conducted near Colt, AR, and Keiser to ensure weed control with clomazone and tetflupyrolimet mixtures compared to commercial standards. Twelve commonly planted rice cultivars were also evaluated in response to a single PRE or POST (2- to 3-leaf rice) application of tetflupyrolimet at 200 or 400 g ai ha−1 in a paddy rice system near Colt. When averaged over soil texture and site-year, all herbicide programs provided ≥98% barnyardgrass control at 56 d after (DA) the last application. Visible rice injury varied for each rice system. Still, injury rarely differed among herbicide programs, except at a single evaluation timing in the conventional (7 DA, 3- to 4-leaf applications) and quizalofop-resistant (preflood) systems. All 12 rice cultivars displayed high tolerance to a single PRE or POST application of tetflupyrolimet at 200 or 400 g ai ha−1. No visible injury, stand loss, or negative impact on rice maturity or reduced grain yield was observed for any cultivar. Tetflupyrolimet will be an effective alternative SOA in a program approach for barnyardgrass while maintaining excellent rice crop safety.

Tetflupyrolimet is the first herbicide with a novel site of action to be commercialized for use in agronomic crops in three decades. Direct-seed rice field experiments were conducted at research facilities near Stuttgart (silt loam), AR, and Keiser (clay), AR, to evaluate tetflupyrolimet as a preemergence herbicide versus commercial standards. Greenhouse experiments determined the influence of soil moisture on pre- and postemergence (POST) barnyardgrass control with tetflupyrolimet and clomazone, and the impact of a delayed flood on efficacy when POST-applied. For the field experiments, clomazone, tetflupyrolimet, and quinclorac were applied individually PRE at 336 and 560, 134 and 224, and 336 and 560 g ai ha-1, respectively, on a silt loam and clay soil, along with clomazone plus tetflupyrolimet and clomazone plus quinclorac at the same rates. The soil moisture experiment included a single PRE and POST application of clomazone at 336 g ai ha-1, tetflupyrolimet at 134 g ai ha-1, and a mixture at the respective rates, on a silt loam soil at 50, 75, and 100% of field capacity. For the flood timing experiment, tetflupyrolimet was applied to 2- to 3-leaf barnyardgrass at 134 g ai ha-1, and a flood was established at 4 hr after treatment (HAT) and 5 and 10 d after treatment (DAT). Barnyardgrass control with a tetflupyrolimet and clomazone mixture was comparable to clomazone plus quinclorac when averaged over all evaluations on silt loam and clay texture soils (≥91%). Soil moisture interacted with herbicide treatments for PRE and POST barnyardgrass efficacy when averaged over DAT, with tetflupyrolimet plus clomazone generally providing the greatest and most consistent control across regimes. Flooding barnyardgrass at 4 HAT provided superior control to later flood timings. Tetflupyrolimet is an effective residual barnyardgrass herbicide, and the addition of clomazone will aid in providing consistent control across varying soil moisture conditions.

Cotton producers need residual herbicides that can safely and practically be applied postemergence. Herbicide-coated fertilizers could allow for simultaneous application of residual herbicides and a bulk fertilizer blend. Therefore, a study was conducted in 2022 and 2023 in Fayetteville, AR, to evaluate cotton tolerance to 12 herbicide treatments coated onto a fertilizer blend and applied over cotton. Herbicides and rates evaluated included diuron at 840 g ai ha−1, florpyrauxifen-benzyl at 29 g ai ha−1, flumioxazin at 105 g ai ha−1, flumioxazin + pyroxasulfone at 70 + 90 g ai ha−1, fluridone at 168 g ai ha−1, fluometuron at 840 g ai ha−1, fomesafen at 280 g ai ha−1, pyroxasulfone at 128 g ai ha−1, saflufenacil at 66 g ai ha−1, saflufenacil + dimethenamid-P at 25 + 219 g ai ha−1, saflufenacil + pyroxasulfone at 44 + 91 g ai ha−1, and S-metolachlor at 1,388 g ai ha−1. In both years, fluridone, fluometuron, diuron, and S-metolachlor caused less than 10% injury at 7 d after treatment (DAT). Higher injury levels were observed in 2022 (19% to 30%) compared with 2023 (4% to 12%) for flumioxazin, fomesafen, saflufenacil, saflufenacil plus dimethenamid-P, and saflufenacil + pyroxasulfone. The elevated injury in one of two years was attributed to the presence of dew when the herbicide-coated fertilizer was applied. The initial injury was transient, as the cotton generally had recovered by 28 DAT for all herbicides. No differences in seed cotton yield or groundcover among the herbicide treatments occurred either year. These results highlight the potential of using several postemergence-applied, residual herbicides coated onto fertilizer that are not currently registered for over-the-top use in cotton.